The other day, I posted a story about the bra that can be used as a gas mask, which had just won an Ig Nobel Prize. I might have held off on telling you about that if I had seen the full list of this year's honorees, which all won the "joke" version of the world's highest honor (with the exception of a knighthood*) for "achievements that first make people laugh, and then make them think."

You will laugh — but probably not think too hard — about some of this year's champions. Among them are science-y types who

-discovered that asthma symptoms abate with a roller-coaster ride

-showed mathematically that organizations would become more efficient if they promoted people at random